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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
,s entitled to the exclusive use of all news
stories appearing in The Wilmington Star
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1940
Star-News Program
Consolidated City-County Government
under Council-Manager Administration.
Public Port Terminals.
Perfected Truck and Berry Preserving
and Marketing Facilities.
Arena for Sports and Industrial Shows.
Seaside Highway from Wrightsville
Beach to Bald Head Island.
Extension of City Limits.
35-Foot Cape Fear River channel, wid
er Turning Basin, with ship lanes into
industrial sites along Eastern bank south
of Wilmington.
Paved River Road to Southport, via
Orton Plantation.
Development of Pulp Wood Production
through sustained-yield methods through
out Southeastern North Carolina.
Unified Industrial and Resort Promo
tional Agency, supported by one county
wide tax.
Shipyards and Drydocks.
Negro Health Center for Southeastern
North Carolina, developed around the
Community Hospital.
Adequate hospital -ilities for whites.
Junior High School.
Tobacco Warehouse for Export Buyers.
Development of native grape growing
throughout Southeastern North Carolina.
Modern Tuberculosis Sanatorium.
TOP O' THE MORNING
Most Christians are fairly familiar with the
beattitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. . . .
hut there is a little beattitude in Matthew II
(11;6) that we often miss. . . . “And blessed is
he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me!'' The
truth of this beattitude needs to be called to
our remembrance in a time like this. . .. When
things we see even to contradict the things we
believe, we must not be offended. . . . Christ
has not failed. He is carrying on exactly on
schedule. ... He has never missed an appoint
ment, and is never late. We need not be offend
ed that He is not converting the world. He did
not promise to do that, but to return in great
glory to reign until all enemies are put under
His feet. That blessed hour draws ever near
er, and the darker the days, the surer His soon
return.
—VANCE HAVNER IN
“THE KING'S BUSINESS”
I
In Tight Place
!
Britain’s sudden thrust through the African
desert against the Italian legions spread out
in the Sidi Barrani region, which has already
resulted in the capture of that base with many
S supplies, marks another major turning point
in the war.
: When Mussolini’s Libyan army began its
campaign against Egypt months ago, Brit
ain’s forces in that area were forced to fali
back into defensive positions with no objective
beyond the single one of holding up the Italiar
advance.
By unleashing an offensive now the British
have revealed their own confidence that th<
time has arrived to take the initiative anc
strike back. Behind this decision lie severa
important developments of the last twi
: months. The lull in Marshal Graziani’s Afri
can campaign has given the British time to re
inforce their army in Egypt heavily; heav;
blows struck at the Italian navy at Taranti
and elsewhere have given Britain undisputei
control of the Mediterranean.
And, finally, the amazing successes scorei
by the Greeks in Albania have put Italy ver;
much on the defensive in that theater of wai
Mussolini must rush everything available t
' Albania to the detriment of his African care
paign. Major ehakeups in the Italian hig
command have hinted at grave dissension i
Rome.
All of this has opened a golden opportunit
to hit Italy hard on all fronts and the Britis
are seizing it with vigor. It is interesting t
note the change in the positions of Italy an
Britain as a result of II Duce’s mad thrust i
Greece. That campaign was undertaken wit
Object of diverting Britain’s attention£01
In'
its offensive in Africa, a move Mussolini an
* ticipated would be started at about the time
he laid his ultimatum on the doorstep of the
Athens government. Now Britain, by striking
with tremendous force at the armies under
Graziani in Africa, has placed Mussolini in
such a tight place that he must either abandon
the African campaign, and let Graziani be
wiped out, to make a last effort to stop the
Greek advance in Albania, or withdraw from
Albania, giving the Greeks a major triumph,
with the hope of bolstering Graziani’s flagging
caiee across the Mediterranean, with his abil
ity to land reinforcements and supplies in
doubt.
The Italians are in such a precarious posi
tion in both areas that it is improbable they
can win in either.
Planning For The Future
It is a helpful and gratifying thought that
Wilmington, New Hanover county and South
eastern North Carolina have risen above the
comfortable assumption that regional planning
is a pleasant sideline rather than a task which
has a vital bearing on our future welfare.
During the first World war Wilmington ex
perienced the tremendous impact that a re
armament program can have. Population ex
panded rapidly; houses were hurriedly built,
highways were under a heavy strain. Today,
with the rapid expansion of defense activities,
we are facing a roughly similar situation. This
city and county—this entire southeastern sec
tion of the state—are in the center of an area
where major projects under the defense pro
gram will be carried out.
We can sit by and allow ourselves to be
overrun and overwhelmed, or we can lay
plans now to meet and take advantage of it.
There can be no doubt that we are at the
crossroads of opportunity. If our choice is
right, all will be well; if wrong, we must ex
pect only confusion and frustration. It is for
tunate, indeed, that these basic facts are ac
knowledged and understood in our civic, social,
official and religious circles.
The need now is for constructive planning—
a program that will be comprehensive enougk
to deal intelligently with every phase of the
new life we must live at no distant date.
This first step in planning—to recognize the
problem—has already been taken. The second
is to decide how the problem is to be met.
That is still to be reckoned with. Charles W.
Eliot, a member of the National Resources
Planning Board, suggests that cities and re
gions situated as this area is cannot better
meet their opportunity than by creating a
planning commission, amply financed and
competently directed, with adequate powers
to do a thorough job. He says that such a
commission thus equipped and cooperating
with other regional planning bodies "can be a
potent force for the orderly development of
the commu/ty.”
We have had one experience, with most
other American cities similarly situated, of
the evils and discomforts' of ’hasty, planless
expansion, in the midst of an emergency. This
time, if we are wise, we will do a better job
by drawing the blueprints in advance.
Different Definitions
If words meant the same things to Ameri
cans and Japanese it would be possible to be
encouraged by the conciliatory remarks For
eign Minister Matsuoka addressed to foreign
correspondents in his recent press conference.
Unfortunately every statement he made must
be understood in the light of definitions
placed on those terms in the past by Japanese
deeds.
Mr. Matsuoka declared that he hopes and
prays for a better understanding between the
two countries. Since the beginning of Japan’s
career of conquest Japanese statesmen have
bewailed our inability to see the situation with
their eyes. What he actually wants, then, it is
fair to assume, is American willingness to
have Japan do as she pleases in the Orient.
Again Mr. Matsuoka expressed the convic
tion that all differences between the two coun
tries can be adjusted if both keep their heads
cool and mind their own business. That ought
to be true, but the trouble is that Japan has
announced it to be her business to create a
“new order in East Asia” contemplating, to
judge from the record, Japanese hegemony
in that sphere at the expense of the indepen
• dence of China and the legitimate interests of
all other nations.
i On one point the Japanese foreign minister
■ was perfectly frank. He admitted without cav
l il that the Three-Power pact was intended to
* keep the United States out of the European
i war. That is the way we understood it, too.
To call it a “peace pact,” on the other hand,
i is disingenuous as far as Americans are con
» cemed, since its real purpose is to win the
1 wars in which its members are engaged.
1 So there was nothing to indicated that Japan
j has actually relinquished any of her ambitions
- or modified her aims, unless we accept Mr.
Matsuoka’s denials that the idea of political
y domination of the Orient for the sake of eco
0 nomic exploitation is far from Tokyo’s mind
1 These denials we cannot credit in the face
of the plain facts.
d ---
y Taxable U. S. Bonds
0 Behind the treasury’s plan to borrow $500,
l" 000,000 through the issuance of notes that will
h be the first fully taxable obligations in the
n history of the federal government there is
something more than the simple purpose of
y raising cash for defense. The money could
h have been obtained, probably with greater
0 ease, by the usual method,
b This move is the first in a new campaign
to end the system of issuing tax-exempt bonds
b now followed by the federal government, the
n states and the municipalities. It is virtually
certain that the next congress will be asked
to end the practice by the “simple statute”
suggested by President Roosevelt once before.
The question of tax-exempt bonds is an old
one. Under both Republican and Democratic
administrations congress has been urged to
take action to stop the practice, which does
have aspects that are admittedly open to criti
cism, Recently it was generally agreed that
a constitutional amendment would be neces
sary, and the difficulty of obtaining ratification
by states anxious to preserve their borrowing
ability was recognized.
But the Supreme Court has handed down
a number of decisions tending to undermine
the principle that the federal government can
not tax state and municipal bonds and these
lesser authorities cannot levy on federal bonds
and notes. On this ground, President Roosevelt
has asked congress in the past to handle the
issue by statute.
Now the question is injected, in a broad
way, into the defense program. Just how con
gress will view it remains to be seen. Ob
viously it should be dealt with only on its
merits, without appeal to emotionals stimu
lated by the defense program.
Editorial Comment
THE PURGE IN ITALY
N. Y. Herald-Tribune
While the bells were pealing throughout
Greece yesterday for the taking of Argyro
kastron, the Italians (who had not been al
lowed to know that Argyrokastron had been
lost) were learning that the head of their navy
was following Badoglio, the head of their army
and their greatest soldier, into an abrupt re
tirement “at his own request.” Admiral Cava
gnari has been the responsible chief of the
Italian Navy since 1933. If he was less famous
than Badoglio, he was even more deeply iden
tified with Fascist militarism. The disappear
ance of one such leader could be set down to
some personal divergence of views. The dis
appearance of two of them—along with that
of de Vecchi, Governor of the Dodecanese,
who was one of the celebrated “quadruum
virs” of the Fascist march on Rome—means
that something serious has been happening.
And it will mean just that to every Italian
What is it? There are at least three possible
explanations that will spring to every mind,
in Italy as well as abroad. One is that the war,
in Albania, in Egypt and at sea, has been so
badly bungled that the men whom Mussolini
picked to put at the very top of his military
organization have had to be thrown out to
save the situation. This would imply a shock
ing incompetence. The second explanation is
that the men at the top were only lukewarm
Fascist, and that Mussolini has been cleaning
house in order to get thoroughly dependable
people in sympathy with his policies in com
mand. This would imply a dangerous schism
opening under the dictatorial feet. The third
explanation is that the trouble is not between
the Fascist and non-Fascist elements but..be
tween the pro-Germans and anti-Germans;
this would imply that the Germans are moving
in to take over the country, which would re
duce Mussolini to a cipher and so destroy him.
No one knows which may be right. The point
is that each explanation must spell serious
difficulty if not disaster for the Duce. 3
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
BY JACK STINNETT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12—UPl— The reper
cussions of the Democratic convention in
Chicago continue to keep the Washington
scene shifting and provide the capital kibitzers
with endless topics for speculation.
Of these, have been none more important
perhaps than the steady rise of Jesse Jones
and Paul V. McNutt. As Secretary of Com
merce and Federal Loan Administrator, Jones
is toting on his broad shoulders a double load.
These two jobs carry more weight with the
nation’s business, big and little, than any
others in the government.
And now McNutt comes up another notch.
Already Federal Security Administrator, and
thereby head of Social Security, the Public
Office of Education, the National Youth Ad
ministration and the Civilian Conservation
Corps, he recently was given the important
task of coordinating the entire health, medical
welfare, nutrition and recreational aspects of
the national defense program.
It’s Too Early
Hardly had this announcement been made
than the item writers again were wondering
if President Roosevelt could be grooming Mc
Nutt for the presidential race of 1944. Such
speculation at this time is about as far fetched
as forecasting what the weather will be on elec
tion day that year. It’s enough now to consider
4he present in the ligijt of that Chicago con
vention and let the future take care of itself.
McNutt, who was openly in the field for the
presidential nomination longer than any one
else, took himself out of the picture and an
nounced for the third term even before it was
known that F. D. R. would run again. But
McNutt had gone to the convention with the
most effective national organization in the
field. He had on his record a long list of polit
ical victories in his native indiana, including
four years as governor. He had been national
commander of the American Legion, high
commissioner to the Philippines, and for a
year Federal Security Administrator (dispens
ing about $800,000,000). There was hardly a
serious observer at the convention who didn’t
feel that McNutt could have had the Vice-Presi
dency is he had wanted it. Yet, when Roosevelt
called for Henry A. Wallace, McNutt bowed
out of the picture and threw the weight of his
organization into the scales for the choice of
his chief.
* * *
frequently Mentioned
Now take the case of Jesse Jones. As chair
man of the Reconstruction Finance Corp., for
eight years, he had supervised loans of more
than ten billion dollars. In pre-convention days
he frequently had been mentioned as a pos
sible presidential candidate, but always de
clared he was not in the running. When the
Chicago convention swung into action, there
was no one more conspicuous on the platform
than the tall, broad-backed Texan and there
wasn’t an important party huddle in which his
big white head was not prominently bent
When the nominations were over and the
third term race was on, not only McNutt, who
is admittedly a politician, but Jones, who de
nies any^jponnections with professional politics ■
Gen. Franco’s Hands Across The Sea
1 ---
l&psuumAsksQJ&foir 1
■ ♦1®®,®®®,®®® (fowflil I
H] wasmwgtoj- Generalissimo ||
W$ Francisco Franco has assured r
if the United States Government jg
R he intends to keep Spain at j|
m peace and neutral in the war 1
raj and in return has asked for |
11 a, credit of t\OO,OOO0OO.OO |
;m with which to buy foodstuffs g
m for his people. 3
1 §jpg&inft Ajpjp^shumIIs .. H
1 Ibs&§<£ ff®<p 9
I Commends Chilean Aid 9
S Who Opposed US. Plans ||
| Santiago, chile - The Spanish. ||*
| government, through its charge l||
1 d'affaires here, has expressed |Jg
| its satisfaction with Pefense |||
I Minister Juvenal Hernandezes |||
| opposition, to leasirgChilean. |j§
f| sites to the United states y|
* for defense bases.
CAROLINA WHITE
UNITS ARE BUSY
Blaisdell Tells Chapel Hill
Rotarians Groups Among
Most Active In U. S.
CHAPEL HILL, Dec. 12.—MV
The North and South Carolina units
of the William Allen White com
mittee for the defense of America
by aiding the Allies have been
more active than those in any
other section of the country, with
the possible exception of some
New England groups, D. C. Blals
dell, liaison officer from the na
tional headquarters of the com
mittee in New York, told Chapel
Hill Rotarians in an address here
tonight.
The most active chapter in the
country is at Asheville, which has
more than 3100 members, and the
most influential unit is at Chapel
Hill, because many of the state
units have stemmed from Chapel
Hill, where State Secretary W. T.
Couch’s office is located.
While here Mr. Blaisdell confer
red with Secretary Couch, Dr.
Archibald Henderson, chairman of
the Chapel Hill unit, and other
members of the local committee.
He will visit State Chairman L. P.
McLendon in Greensbro and local
chairmen in other sections of the
state before returning to national
headquarters.
There are about 30 units in North
Carolina, and more are being or
ganized, Mr. Blaisdell said.
The first objectives of the Wil
liam Allen White committee, which
came into existence in response to
a nation-wide sentiment which
awaited only opportunity for crys
tallization, have been accomplish
ed, he said, in that the 50 over
age destroyer^ have been turned
over to Britain and then a number
of flying fortresses, as well as
rifles, machine guns, and ammuni
ion, are on their way. 3
Shep Cooper Arrested
In U. S. Liquor Case
Local ATU agents in conjunction
with Highway Patrol Corporal Carra
way and Patrolman Ferrell arrested
Shep Cooper of Fair Bluff Tuesday
at Chadbourn when they seized his
1937 Ford coupe containing six gal
lons Of non-taxpaid liquor, ATU
agents reported yesterday.
Cooper was brought before U. S.
Commissioner W. A. Wylie Wednes
day and bound over to a hearing
at 10 o’clock Monday under $200
bond.
were in the thick of it time and
again to help the President roll up
his majority.
* * •
Congress With Him
Just how well Jones is thought
of outside purely administration
circles is illustrated by the fact
that congress had to pass a special
law to make it possible for him to
Carry his two present jobs. The
only dissent came from one repre
sentative whose complaint was:
“We don’t want to kill him” (with
more work than he can stand.)
A lot of water has run under the
bridge since that Chicago conven
tion and a lot of persons impor
tant in the first and second terms
already have been washed down
stream but not McNutt and Jones.
Certainly some kind of a tide is
carrying them in the other direc
tion. ■
Obituaries
TIMOTHY M. SAVAGE
Funeral rites for Timothy Martin
Savage, 65, of Castle Haynes, were
held yesterday afternoon at 3 o’clock
from the McClure Memorial Presby
terian church with the Rev. C. C.
Myers and Dr. C. H. Storey officiat
ing. Interment followed in the Pike
Creek church cemetery at Rocky
Point.
Active pallbearers were nephews
of the deceased, L. A. Ramsey, R.
L. Savage, R. A. Hardison, Sam Cor
bett, J. M. Savage and R. L. Cowan.
Honorary pallbearers were: A.
Ludeke, A. A. Loftin, D. L. Futch,
A. C. Blake, B. Van Bavel, E. C.
Baldwin, Paul Puskas, Dr. R. J. Wil
liams, Dr. Watts Farthing and Dr.
J. T. Hoggard.
He is survived by his wife, two
daughters, Mrs. C. J. Miller and
Mrs. Crawford Webb, of Castle
Haynes; three sisters, Mrs. W. C.
Hardison, Castle Haynes, Mrs. J. H.
Ramsey, of Rocky Mount, and Mrs.
Martha Cowan, of Burgaw; two
brothers, I. H. Savage, of Burgaw,
and R. L. Savage, of Castle Haynes;
and eight grandchildren.
W ILSON W. GREEN
Funeral rites for Wilson W. Green,
47, of Bolton, were held yesterday
afternoon at 3 o’clock from the Car
vers Creek Methodist church in
Council.
Mr. Green is survived by his wid
ow, Katie Flowers Green; and three
brothers, Charles Green, Ernest
Green, and George Green, of Canada.
MRS. W. ELLIS BETHEA
Funeral services for Mrs. W. Ellis
Bethea, 73, of Latta, S. C-. mother
of Philip W. Bethea, 216 South Third
street, were held yesterday afternoon
at 3:30 o’clock from the home of her
daughter, Mrs. S- H. Callahan, in
Marion, S. C. Interment followed in
the Dolton cemetery.
Mrs. Bethea is also survived by
one brother, J. G. Crawford, of
Chesterfield; and five other chil
dren, Mrs. S. H. Callahan, of Mar
ion; W. D. Bethea, of Atlanta; R.
F. Bethea, of Macon; C. E. Bethea,
of Latta; and Mrs. F. M. Mallette,
of Mount Holly, N. C.
RICHARD E. ALFORD
Funeral riles for Richard Ellis
Alford, two-month-old son of Mr.
and Mrs. W. F. Alford, of Wilming
ton, route three, were held from
the residence yesterday afternoon at
3 o’clock, with the Rev. J. E. Allard
officiating. Interment followed in
the New Seagate pemetery.
He is survived by his parents; four
brothers, Bobby Alford, Jack Alford,
Woodard Alford, and Clarence Al
ford.
I.
james a. McCulloch
James Alexander McCulloch, 87
year-old retired dentist, died at the
home of his daughter, Mrs. C. E.
Enfield, at Bradley’s Creek Wednes
day afternoon at 5:45 o’clock after
an illness of nearly two years.
He is survived by his daughter.
Funeral services will be held this
morning at 10:30 o’clock from
Harrell’s Funeral home by the Rev.
Robert L. Jerome. Interment will
be in Masonboro Baptist church
cemetery.
Pallbearers will be Tom Smith,
Carey Walton, Tom Croom, Harris
Haskett, Warren Sanders and Ken
neth Kirby.
He was a native of Elkton, Ky.
MRS. JOHN R. BANNERMAN
BURGAW, Dec. 12.—Funeral‘rites
for Mrs. John R. Bannerman, 80,
were held this afternoon at 3 o'clock
CENSORED
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 12.
—(fPi—Louis Belios received a
letter—or rather what was left of
one—mailed from Greece October
27, day before the Italian invas
ion began.
Across one end of the envelope
was a blue “passed by censor” no
tation in Italian. Inside, only
the outer fringe of the letter
sheet remained — looking very
much like a picture frame with
out the picture.
Funds To Complete Work
Of Recodifying Laws To
Be Asked Of Legislatun
RALEIGH, Dec. 12.—UP)—A group
of legislators, lawyers and state offi
cials voted today to ask the 194]
general assembly to appropriate suf
ficient funds to complete the work
of recodifying North Carolina’s laws
by 1943.
The group also recommended that
funds be made available for the
printing of 250 to 300 copies of the
recodified statues, for disitribution tc
the law-makers in 1943. Under the
plan, the 1943 assembly would pass
the recodified statutes in bulk, and
they would become the official law
of the state.
The recodification was started in
1939, after the last general assembly
appropriated 310,000 a year, for two
years, for the work.
Liquor Sales In State
Amount To $790,513.90
RALEIGH, Dec. 12.—UP)—Gross
receipts of liquor sales in North
Carolina’s 26 wet counties totaled
$790,513.90 last month, higher by $1,
803.55 than receipts in November,
1939, when there were 27 wet coun
ties:
Cutlar Moore, chairman of the
state board of Alcoholic Control, at
tributed the increase to a boost in
the federal tax on liquor. Actually,
less liquor was sold in the state than
in November, 1939. he said.
Durham county, as usual, led in
sales for the month, with a total of
$138,557.25. Sales in Cumberland
count:*, where business is booming
with the expansion of Fort Bragg,
amounted to $80,587.20, compared
with $36,837.20 in the month last
year.
SUED FOR DIVORCE
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12.—CP>—
Louis Alter, musical composer, was
sued for divorce today by Mrs. Made
leine Short Alter, known on the New
York stage as Mady Laurence. The
complaint charges cruelty, sulkiness
and pouting. They were married June
20, 1936, in California and separated
last month.
from the Burgaw Presbyterian
church with the Rev. P. L. Clark
officiating. Burial followed In the
Burgaw cemetery
Mrs. Bannerman, before her mar
riage, was Miss Laura Murphy, the
daughter of the late Dr. Hanson Mur
phy.
She Is survived by one daughter,
Mrs. Katie Herring; one grandson,
David Herring, of Gaffney, S. C.; two
sisters, Mrs. Mac Moore and Mrs.
Magum Moore, all of Burgaw; and
several nieces and nephews.
She is also survived by a daugh
ter-in-law, Mrs. J. R. Bannerman, Jr.,
Fair Enough
The Star wishes its reari
to know that views and 0
ions expressed in this art 7
are those of the author an!
may not always harmon”
with its position.-The Editor
BY WESTBROOK PEGIfp
NEW YORK, Dec. l2 Jr?
recent upsetment of represent*.
Ham Fish over some news.,*
reporting which he held to be i
curate and slanderous remind*
to remind him that this Sr,rt
things is much more flagrant]? ®
by the members of the house *
the senate than by newspaper?
porters. I will not go into ihe ?
tails of the report which ann0?
Mr. Fish, because the original?
legation or insinuation mi°ht °
last his denial in the mind'of?
reader. However, he speculated?
the advisability of suing for r ?
and on that point I would lib,
observe that the ordinary (??
has no such redress when b '
slandered by a member of eh?
house from the floor thereof48
Mr. Fish’s anger over this Cllt>
lication recalls a little controvert
that I had with him a year or f
ago on the same subject. Mr ?°
was preparing a speech' to be ?
livered in his district and was c?
templating some unconfirmed ?
if untrue, slanderous matter v?
had come to him anonymouslv .
the mail. I asked him if he'fa
checked these allegations, and mv
version of the conversation i* that
although he had not, he had p?
ned to use the material, anvwav'
qualifying it with some such ?
cape clauses as “it is aiw?
and “it is believed."
uispuie fcnded
He later said bp had no intention
of using the allegations unconfirm.
ed, and there the dispute ended,
It was his word and my recollec
tion against mine. That speech was
to have been delivered off the
floor, where the congressional im
munity does not run and the con.
gressman, theoretically, would
have been legally responsible fa
his remarks. But, inasmuch as the
person affected was President
Roosevelt, he was still immune be
cause he figured the President
wouldn’t sue. In fact, many politi
cal orators operate under an im
plied immunity and are notorious
ly indifferent to truth and provable
fact in their comments affecting
the reputations of defenseless citi
zens.
A communist member of con
gress once said of a certain man
that this man got drunk every
night, although the congressman
had never had the honor of meet
ing the man and probably had
never even seen him. A like charge
against the communist congress
man published in a paper having
financial assets would doubtless
have resulted in a libel suit being
filed, communists being hell on
their legal rights and ever alert
to grab a dollar from a capitalist,
I am aware of another case in
which a famous public man. who
constantly berates the press, de
liberately libeled a citizen in a
speech after two lawyers had ad
vised him that certain matter in
his address was clearly libelous.
Moreover, he boasted of it.
Legal Remedy
I certainly will not assume me
burden of defending the publica
tion of the report to which re
presentative Fish objected, but i
do want to emphasize the fact the:
he has a legal remedy, whereat
he and all other members of boh
houses may slander citizens n'fc
impunity, and that some of them
have been known to do so.
Unfortunately, not all members
of congress have a high regard!
their responsibility and, because
most of them are politicians t?
occupation, they are, on the aver
age, much less careful on the to
than reporters are in print
politician grows up in the hat
of immunity. The reporter beg
to hear about libel when he is •
cub. The congressman has no cr
editor over him to ask, ‘'vho -j
your authority for this charge
And to delete it from his remark"
if it is an anonymous tip or rum
Obviously, members of congres>
cannot be held accountab'e, ^
cause it is necessary that W.
have complete freedom in deba.
But this immunity should imp0
on every member a conscientio*
respect for the truth, rn avers.
to scandal for its own sake -■
a scrupulous respect for the •
putation of the citizen under c
cussion. And the decent mem ■
should assume a duty ta exp®
wanton slander at once lcst
be repeated by scurrilous pub
tions.
If the United States governor
were legally responsible for ai •
libel/ uttered in congress and P -
lished in the record, the judgm ■■
would just about consume the -
tire pot of cash on hand, acco ■
receivable and the proceeds
public works and building and •
United States navy sold under -
hammer.
Fuller Named President
Of V. S. Manufacture
n fl” *
NEW YORK, Dec. 1~- • ^
Walter D. Fuller, president or ^
tiss Publishing Co., PhiladelP“ia- ^
elected president o£ the
sociation of Manufacturers to ,
As president, Fuller will e j;
executive for the coming >ef^ ,
organization of 7,600 iiulus.na
which cover the entire t nite ^ ,(
He succeeds in office
Prentis, Jr., president of J‘n . rjnz
Cork Co., who has held office
the last year. o[- the
Fuller 'has been chairman ^
important resolutions C°m.0p&®
which today presented a „(
pledging the complete coopf'1 j|t ay
industry with government
tional defense.